The empty racks tell the story: Bradley Fair store has closed after two years
Bradley Fair is down another high-end clothing store.
Those who have recently visited the open-air shopping center at 21st and Rock may have noticed that the space that held W 1857 menswear is empty, save a few bare racks and fixtures.
The shop, which opened in the summer of 2023 in the one-time Trio’s space by HomeGrown, is in fact closed, confirmed its owner Brady Flannery.
“We greatly appreciated the opportunity to serve the Wichita community,” he said via text message. He did not answer any other questions about the closing.
W 1857 was a spin-off of Weaver’s on Massachusetts Street in Lawrence, which bills itself as the “longest continually operating department store west of the Mississippi.” Flannery, the president of Weaver’s, and his wife, Molly, a Wichita native whose maiden name was Maloney, opened W 1857 together, saying they saw a need for a men’s clothing store in Wichita.
It carried casual items plus high-end pieces from brands like Vuori, Faherty, Peter Millar and johnnie-O.
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The name of the store was a tribute to the year that Weaver’s first opened.
It's not clear when the W 1857’s last day was. Its Facebook page was last updated in July.
A Bradley Fair spokesperson did not respond to questions about the shopping center’s plans for the space. Another menswear store, Jos A. Bank, closed its Bradley Fair store in December: A manager said at the time that it just wasn’t getting enough business. The store had first opened in 1994, a few years after Bradley Fair opened. It left then returned in 2004.
Earlier this month, women’s clothing store chain Chico’s also closed its shop in Bradley Fair. It had been open there for more than two decades. A Bradley Fair spokeswoman said at the time that the store’s lease had expired.
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